sound & fury

La Mission-Haut-Brion claims that it is responsible for getting St. Vincent into trouble. It seems that St. Vincent, the patron saint of vintners, had not been in heaven very long before he was attacked by a terrific thirst and had a yearning to taste again the great wines of France, the Burgundies, the wines from […]

Some of us at weirdcombos were lucky to have a glorious weekend in the Russian River Valley over Mother’s Day. We spent the night at the funky cabin-in-a-redwood-forest of our great friends, Jocelyn and Devin, and did some wine tasting; we followed the Russian River to its delta on the Pacific near the town of […]

Some of the weirdcombos headed down south to the 19th Annual Paso Robles Zin-Fest last week for a fun-filled time. Unfortunately the weather was a horror-show: rain and cold the entire weekend. But Mother Nature’s mischievous ways didn’t hold us back (for too long). Paso Robles is near the California Central Coast across the mountains […]

Believe it or not, touring a winery can be a mixed bag. Don’t get me wrong. It is thrilling to go to wine country, sample expensive and rare wines, occasionally talk with the wine makers or owners, admire the facility or get lost in the view or in the romance of it all. The quality […]

Aaah, Bordeaux! I am enchanted with the idea of you. Bordeaux Châteaux is a marvelous book: full of the romance of that greatest of French wine regions. Published to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the world-renowned Grands Crus Classés in 1855, the book overflows with poetic and loving descriptions of the various châteaux that form […]

Oldman’s Brave New World of Wine is a delightful guide to exploring wine for novices and experienced oenophiles alike. Convinced that we all tend to stick with the familiar when it comes to our vinous choices, Oldman’s goal is to push the reader to give up that oaky chardonnay or go-to shiraz, at least once […]

In Rheingold – The German Wine Renaissance, Owen Bird enthusiastically advocates for German Riesling while simultaneously criticizing the industry’s ability to successfully market it as the preeminent white on the international stage. In this age of red wine consumption, has German Riesling become a fashion casualty? Bird, at one of his funniest moments, writes, “Fashion […]

I really enjoy Wine Spectator, but maybe I’ve been taking it too seriously lately. I went a little crazy over 2009 Bordeaux futures after WS and everyone else went hog-wild about the vintage. My checkbook is still recovering. The same happened with the 2007 Châteauneuf-du-Pape vintage. WS loved it, and, by extension, I did, too. […]

Wine is fantastic, though is it possible to ever get too much of a good thing? Well, not if you’re Neal Rosenthal. His exciting book, Reflections of a Wine Merchant, describes his career as an independent wine merchant in New York with a penchant for Old World wines. In the mid-Seventies, Rosenthal was a disillusioned […]

I read A Year of Wine: Perfect Pairings, Great Buys, and What to Sip for Each Season in hopes of learning more about pairing red wines with spicy, vegetarian and Asian style foods: basically the kinds of things that we eat and blog about all the time. Plus I really like Dr. Vino’s site. Like […]